687 Jewish “returnees” Register in Fohrenwald Dp Camp

August 19, 1953

MUNICH (Aug. 18)

A total of 687 “illegal” residents of Fohrenwald, the last remaining camp for displaced Jews in Germany, registered in the special census ordered Sunday by the Bavarian officials, it was reported here today.

The nearly 700 who registered before last night’s deadline are men, women and children who left Germany after the war and have since returned to it from Israel and other countries. Because these Jews came to Germany a second time without entrance visas and residence permits they have been labelled “illegals” by the German officials. The DP’s come to Germany in the hope of being able to emigrate from here to the United States, Canada or other countries in the Western Hemisphere.

In an attempt to discourage the return of the Jewish DP’s, the authorities have arrested some of them and deported them. Last week, faced with the possibility of further arrests and expulsions, the returnees held a sit-down strike in the offices of the Joint Distribution Committee until they were promised that their expulsion would be held up temporarily.